As the presidential campaign enters the final 100-day stretch, Republican nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, rallied supporters on Saturday in a state that hasn't backed a Republican candidate for the White House since 1972.
The rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, was designed as a sign of the campaign's bullishness about its prospects across the Midwest, particularly when President Joe Biden was showing signs of weakness ahead of his decision to exit the campaign. Trump, who won Michigan and Wisconsin in 2016 only to lose them four years later, has increasingly focused on Minnesota as a state where he'd like to put Democrats on defense.
Trump attacked the likely Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris as a "crazy liberal" and a "radical left lunatic," accusing her of wanting to "defund the police."
The former Republican president said, by contrast, he wants to "overfund the police."
Trump also knocked Harris as an "absolute radical" on abortion, seemingly sensing an opening to attack her on the issue as the Biden administration's most vocal proponent of abortion rights. He misleadingly suggested Harris wants abortion "right up until birth and after birth." Infanticide is criminalized in every state, and no state has passed a law that allows killing a baby after birth.
Trump's remarks followed a spirited speech from Vance, in which he leaned heavily into issues that animate the Republican base, particularly security at the U.S.-Mexico border and crime. He also took a broadside against the news media, arguing that journalists were comparing the first Black woman and person of south Asian descent to lead a major party ticket to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Republican vice presidential candidate Senator JD Vance at a campaign rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, July 27, 2024.
The rally is something of a gamble, potentially forcing Harris and Democrats to devote resources in a state they would likely otherwise ignore. But it could also be a risk for Trump if he spends time in places that prove out of reach with Harris leading the ticket when he could otherwise focus on maintaining his support in more traditional battlegrounds.
Earlier Saturday, Trump spoke at a bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee, laying out a plan to embrace cryptocurrency if elected and promising to make the U.S. the "crypto capital of the planet" and a "bitcoin superpower."
Trump didn't always support cryptocurrency but has changed his attitude toward the digital tokens in recent years and in May, his campaign started accepting donations in cryptocurrency.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, July 27, 2024.
Trump's keynote address showed how radically his position on cryptocurrency has changed over time.
He was not always a fan of cryptocurrencies, writing on social media in 2019 that their "value is highly volatile and based on thin air."
He has embraced the digital currency in recent years, and in May, his campaign began accepting donations in cryptocurrency.
Trump's remarks came a day after independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. addressed the conference and also pitched launching a strategic bitcoin reserve.
After surviving the July 13 assassin attempt on him at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump has only had events at indoor venues. But he said in a post on his social media network Saturday that he will schedule outdoor stops and the Secret Service would increase security.
Secret Service officials would not say whether the agency had agreed to expand operations at Trump's campaign events or had any concerns about him potentially resuming outdoor gatherings.